1. Field
This invention relates to methods and systems for recording user web browser click-stream events and to interacting with computer users based on those events.
2. Description of the Related Art
Web browser click-stream data are typically collected at a server site using web logs or at a particular web site. Web logs are maintained at the server site and record access to web pages, collecting available user data as the server administrators may determine. Web logs can be retrieved from web servers and may contain significant amounts of click-stream traffic data relating to activities of users that visit a server. These web logs may contain particular site navigation patterns that can be analyzed for the pages viewed. This data is captured as a post click-stream event, not in real time, and can only provide as much user information as the web server log maintains. With the web log method it may be difficult to determine the sequence of the click-stream events as users navigate through the web sites.
Another method, which may be referred to as page tagging, collects data from a particular web site by use of software placed on the web server. This web site software then collects data, as determined by the software providers, as the user browses a page. Using this method, data may be collected for the particular web sites and may maintain a record of the user's click-stream browsing in the order of the browse events.
One limitation of these web browser click-stream data collectors is that they only allow for analysis of user data from particular sites. Data and reports may only be created as to the habits of a user on the particular sites. These data collection methods cannot capture the complete browsing habits of a user across a plurality of different web sites located on a plurality of servers. With this limited click-stream data there cannot be analysis as to how one site is viewed versus another. Without collecting data from the full range of the user's web browsing, competitive comparisons of viewing trends cannot be complete.